ILO Director-General Guy Ryder addressed a conference of the European Commission on EU labour law in a video message.

“We cannot ignore the desperation of those seeking better, safer livelihoods and decent jobs”, Guy Ryder said recalling the recent Lampedusa tragedy. He advocated joint efforts of the European Union, the ILO, governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations to create more regular migration channels and "to take the opportunity of this conference to meet this challenge head-on and propose a holistic road-map to fully address the different angles to this global problem".

As Guy Ryder stated in his video message, “increasing numbers of workers have been driven not only to accept substandard conditions of employment but to join criminal trafficking networks, that deprive them of their fundamental human rights and dignity while perpetuating the very poverty from which they seek to escape.” Recognizing the need for greater protection of trafficking victims, the ILO has now embarked upon the adoption of an instrument to complement its existing forced labour Conventions. “This is yet another opportunity for our organizations to combine their efforts to achieve the elimination of forced labour”, Guy Ryder stressed the importance of joining forces between the European Union and the ILO.

Guy Ryder indicated that the EU Directive on minimum standards for sanctioning employers of illegally staying third-country nationals provides a good starting point for protecting the exploited and bringing undeclared work to the surface.